During my recent trip to Shetland I decided to bring home some yarn souvenirs for a few fiber pals. It's especially fun to give a few colors of jumper-weight yarn for folks to make a pair of mitts or a hat. With my new-found enthusiasm for vintage Shetland lace, I thought I'd get a pattern and some 1-ply wool for Oogy and I to use for a knit-along. I was doing well with my 2-ply Norik scarf, and thought Dunella looked like a feasible next project. I knew that Oogy was capable of anything, so I didn't worry that it would be too difficult for her!
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Norik Fine Lace Scarf, pattern from Unst Heritage Centre
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I should have paid closer attention to the pattern. I liked that the border patterns at either end of the scarf are worked in the same direction as the center pattern, unlike Norik, which requires one to begin and end with a narrow strip of knitting that needs to be grafted onto the center panel. I didn't notice when I chose Dunella that there is a pattern to follow on every row. No rows of plain knitting, just pattern all the time. This creates at least two challenges: there is no opportunity to take a break from paying close attention to the pattern and it is necessary to interpret the pattern symbols in two directions. I had to start the scarf over three times before I could gain some traction. Once I understood the pattern I could go both directions without the initial confusion of reading the symbols in multiple ways. Even then, I was thinking that it was just too hard and it would take me another 10 years to finish. That's when I emailed Oogy to say that I might have to give up. I just didn't want my overly-ambitious choice of a pattern to ruin our chance to appreciate what the beautiful 1-ply yarn could produce. I thought we might finish one repeat of the center pattern, do the final border, and use it as a wall-hanging or doily. Then we could use our remaining yarn to make an easier scarf. Or, we could finish one repeat of the center pattern and then decide how to proceed. That is what we decided to do.
Almost as soon as I sent that message, I think I had a mental shift with the pattern and was able to do 7 or 8 rows without stopping for a break. It's like I'm chunking some individual elements of the pattern and can recognize more easily where I am in a row. It's still slow, but maybe not impossible? I'm on row 49 now.
